"Any interviews lately?" No. "And whys that?" (dont know? fake jobs? fishing info?)

[voron]

I received a blatant fishing call this morning. Some lady said there was a perl contract "in the South East", and when I asked where she said she didn't know

To be fair, with agents there is nothing suspicious about that

[gpmh79]

Computer People are currently using a line about CitiBank consolidating 80 share servers into one box, at a ".NET Consultancy" near Tottenham Court Road.

They phoned me with it for the second time yesterday, and the agent concerned nearly sh@t his pants when I said I had already been put forward by another dodgy agency, giving the name of another bunch of cowboys who pull the same scam.

[swamp]

Don't feed the sharks

I don't blame agents for fishing calls. It's their job to be a shark. I blame newbie contractors (and some experienced ones who should know better) for feeding the sharks.

[threaded]

".NET Consultancy" near Tottenham Court Road.

Hmm, that is what they are calling themselves now...

[voron]

I don't blame agents for fishing calls. It's their job to be a shark. I blame newbie contractors (and some experienced ones who should know better) for feeding the sharks.

There is fishing and then there is blatant fishing. If an agent calls with a genuine role and then at the end asks politely about possible interviews you might have lined up then fair enough. However, it is completely unprofessional to cold call someone, adopt a very aggressive tone and then demand to know about interviews and opportunities, only to hang up when the contractor doesn’t spill the beans. I do hold them responsible for that and it displays a very poor grasp of business. Contractors are frequently involved in hiring additional staff for a project; who will they go to? The agency full of sharks and fishermen, or the agency which has behaved in a professional way?

The call I received this afternoon was from some agency called ABI IT – or something along those lines (didn’t catch it properly)

[gpmh79]

<snip> ABI IT – or something along those lines (didn’t catch it properly)

Nearly ABI TITMUSS....I have noticed that some agents seem to have comic book names, I was talking to John Constantine (DC comic book character) this morning.

[Marcus Aurelius]

Nearly ABI TITMUSS....I have noticed that some agents seem to have comic book names, I was talking to John Constantine (DC comic book character) this morning.

It could've been worse, it could've been Gary Goldsmith!!!